Trade unions in the Philippines develop organizers

23.06.2016

IndustriALL Philippines held a three-day training workshop on organizing skills to enhance the capacity of field organizers.

Twenty eight organizers, eleven of them women, from 13 labour federations affiliated to IndustriALL Global Union participated in an intensive organizing workshop held from 20 to 22 June 2016 at the highlands of Tagaytay City. The training was designed to enhance the skills and knowledge of field organizers to enable them to effectively carry out organizing campaigns in a challenging environment.

Most of those who attended are organizing at target sites and factories, where they encounter problems and concerns regarding workplace organizing. In a training needs analysis conducted prior to the workshop to identify skills and knowledge gaps, the top three needs were skills on organizing strategies and tactics, the trade union organizing process and a refresher on the basics of unionism.

Seasoned trade unionists and educators were invited to supplement the skills of the participants by explaining the concepts and principles of trade union organizing in the context of globalized economy. The different steps in the organizing process were presented, and strategies and tactics based on actual experiences solicited active discussion and exchange among the participants. The IndustriALL Philippine coordinator emphasized that organizing is a top priority in everything that IndustriALL does, and a key component in the union building project for the Philippines.

Indeed, the participants gave positive remarks on the importance of further developing their capacity. One young women organizer said:

“We have learned a lot from the experiences of other organizers, we learned new things that were unknown to us before and this learning will be very useful in our every day organizing work in the field”.

To conclude, organizers presented their organizing plans and the status of their work, based on existing targets and complemented by presenting additional targets.